1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an inkjet printing machine and an ink cartridge which set a maintenance cycle in accordance with user's preference within an appropriate range.
2. Related Art
An inkjet printing machine is detachably provided with ink cartridges that hold ink for each color. The inkjet printing machine performs printing of an image, character, or the like by supplying ink from an ink cartridge to an inkjet head and discharging the ink from nozzles of the inkjet head toward a sheet.
In such an inkjet printing machine, maintenance is regularly performed in order to maintain a normal discharge state of inkjet heads. For example, there is performed purging that forcibly ejecting ink from an ink discharge surface of an inkjet head having a plurality of nozzles formed thereon, and dirt or the like sticking to the ink discharge surface is wiped off using a wiper blade, together with the ejected ink. A too long maintenance cycle may cause poor printing, whereas a too short cycle may increase wasted ink consumption. Therefore, an optimal maintenance cycle is preliminarily set on the basis of the type of ink or the characteristics of the inkjet head, or the like.
Patent Document 1 proposes technique relating to a printing machine having a memory storing ink parameter data including at least an ink parameter determined in accordance with the type of ink contained in an ink cartridge, and a controller that determines a cleaning sequence of nozzles according to the ink parameter.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-192750